When things become a bit touchy

* In his National Day address, Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou urged Beijing to "move toward constitutional democracy"---a clear departure from the usual conciliatory tone in recent years.

* Beijing was swift in its response. The State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) felt the remarks were "unhelpful" to cross-Strait relations and external forces, including Taiwan, should not interfere with China's domestic affairs.

* China-Taiwan relations will likely slow down a bit since Beijing has rejected the idea of a cross-Strait summit between Ma and Chinese President Xi Jinping during next month's APEC Leaders' Conference in Beijing. Though it was something both sides desired, traditional ideological inhibitions, i.e. cross-Strait relations are China's internal affairs, made it inappropriate to take place at an international setting like APEC.

* Coupled with the continuing standoff in Hong Kong over universal suffrage and the upcoming "9 in 1" local elections in Taiwan on November 29, domestic political factors on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will preclude new initiative by either Beijing or Taipei---at least until the end of the years. But there will be no derailment in the ongoing cross-Strait rapprochement. "Slow but stable" are the operative words in the coming months.

台灣即將在十一月二十九號舉行「九合一」選舉。隨著選戰進入下半場，各地選情也將逐步加溫。因為提出的口號與政見相差有限，候選人的人格特質往往成為決定勝負的關鍵。

    有人說台灣的選舉像嘉年華，過程熱鬧，鮮少冷場。候選人的知名度與媒體形象，遠比政見內容來得重要，因而選出了不少的「人形立牌」，把自己當作政治偶像，愛自己超過關懷基層，握手剪綵永遠跑第一，至於勘災救難，對不起，通常要多等一等。

政治人物懂得「愛自己」沒有不好，也沒有不對，但若僅止於此就容易形成「不沾鍋」，難與民眾感同身受，更遑論「苦民所苦」。但身為地方首長及民代就是要關注民眾的生活大小事，從交通到教改，環保到管線安全，誰能真正解決這些看似雞毛蒜皮的事情，誰就會成為選戰倒數的關注焦點。

有人把年底九合一選舉當做2016的前哨戰，感覺有些牽強。畢竟是不同層級的選舉，候選人不同，民眾關心的議題不同，兩年後的客觀環境也不一樣。但從這次的選戰，可以讓人一窺各個政治人物的風格理念與領袖特質，有沒有從大處著眼，小處著手，關注柴米油鹽醬醋茶等大小事，真正做到「治大國如烹小鮮」。綜觀有志於2016的藍綠政治人物，似乎都還有一段距離。

Ways out of ongoing economic malaise

* Amidst intensifying competition in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly from China and Korea, pressure is mounting on Taiwan to pursue market diversification and industrial transformation.

* Given the volatility of an inter-connected world market, it has become an inevitable macroeconomic risk during global economic cycles, particularly for tech-products that Taiwan is known for. This tech bias has, in turn, made policy changes necessary and unavoidable.

Taiwan’s world competitiveness rankings declining

l  According to the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management and Development (IMD), Taiwan was ranked 11th in the 2013 global competitiveness ranking.

l  It was a five-notch drop from 2012. Taiwan’s decline in competitiveness was primarily because of the island’s weak domestic economy and a listless job market.

l  Meanwhile, Taiwan remained in third place in the Asia Pacific for the third consecutive year—behind only Honk Kong and Singapore.

Inching towards institutional ties

* Former Taiwan Premier and chairman of the opposition DPP, Frank Hsieh, lead a delegation of 29 scholars and business leaders to Hong Kong during June 28-July 2 for a seminar on cross-Strait relations.

* Jointly organized by Hsieh’s Taiwan Reform Foundation (TRF) and the Taiwan Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, this two-day seminar was generally viewed as the first institutional exchange between Beijing and Taiwan’s largest opposition political party—the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

* It also helps to affirm TRF’s role as the first political organization in Taiwan, outside the pan-Blue camp, that has been recognized by Beijing as a potential “working partner.”